November 22, 2011

Holidays

Oh, oh the holidays are here; 'tis the season of unabashed eating and never ending excuses for why one can't control their food intake or show any form of restraint when faced with the plethora of carb/sugar loaded holiday treats. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, and I especially love eating during the holidays. I actually come from a long tradition of homemade candy, baking and multi-course meal extravaganzas. Despite my culinary background, however, I just can't condone nor accept the attitude that simply because the holidays are upon us we should grow by two pant sizes and give up all our discipline and common sense when faced with food. First of all, its just plain unhealthy. Secondly subconsciously I think it really sends a negative message; one that says, "I am too weak, I have no true self control, I am not capable of staying in line with my principles."

Have you ever asked yourself what pushes you to stuff your face during the holiday? I have, and the answers I have come to are: 1) availability and 2) permission.

Availability: Yes, the food is there, right in your face, luscious, tasty, satisfying, holiday treats. As humans we are hardwired to acquire and store calories, just in case famine hits us. Of course the potential for most of us to encounter true hunger is about as likely as ending up face to face with a saber tooth tiger. Being caught in shopping hell and unable to grab lunch does not qualify as famine. Despite this reality, the nature of our biology is such that evolution is a slow process and our bodies and brains still react much like they did in more precarious and leaner periods of our Human history.

Permission: Permission is the process by which, weeks before the holidays are actually here you surreptitiously start to allow the possibility that a certain holiday is a good opportunity to cheat. As the date nears the scope of permission has increased, it's not just Thanksgiving day or New Years Eve, but rather the whole month or so between the two holidays and maybe even a few weeks before then. By granting yourself permission, you are effectively removing all your arguments for moderation or consistency in your diet.

So what now? You might be asking yourself. Does this mean that the only way of approaching the holidays healthily is to deny yourself those tried and true culinary traditions? Does this mean the end of corn bread stuffing, pumpkin pie, yule logs, fudge and popcorn balls? For some über humans the answer is yes... I am not one of them, and by definition most people fall in my category of being when it comes to food. The simpler, and probably more realistic, answer is mindfulness. Yes, yes let me repeat that MINDFULNESS. Why not try and practice it this holiday season?

Check your attitudes about the holidays, have you already given yourself permission to gorge yourself like a French Goose at a foie gras farm? If so, let me know and I will bring the funnel to stuff the food down your throat, but if I am going to put the work into it I get first dibs on your foie gras when Armageddon comes.

Ask yourself how you would ideally like to behave during the holidays when it comes to food. What if any are the discrepancies between this ideal and your actual plans?

Make a list, and check it twice; what are the foods you are really looking forward to eating? What is it about these foods that gets you so excited? Is it their taste? Their significance in your personal history? When you look at some of them do you actually draw a blank, realizing that you get all rev-ed up out of habit more than anything else?

Looking at this list, and having checked it twice ask yourself, which foods you are now going to indulge in. The list may be unchanged or may be shorter.

This next step is very tricky and surprisingly near impossible when first tried by some people - When your opportunity to indulge arrives, SLOW DOWN. Yup, you read it right, slow down. Take a moment to look at your food, smell it, take a small bite at first. Allow yourself to analyse how it tastes and feels and what kinds of thoughts or emotions it triggers. Now take another bite, and then another one after that, each time taking care to actually enjoy your food. At what point does the food you are eating stop producing those really pleasurable associations? Can you take a break from the food and come back to it? Try doing this, give your taste buds a few minutes to dis-habituate to the flavors in your mouth, and then repeat the initial process.

Once you are satisfied by the experience stop! Yes, the availability of those sugar cookies triggers that primitive brain. It's telling you: "eat, eat it all you fool! You might be starving tomorrow, what if there is no more food, you'll be hungry, and miserable and eventually die!" Your primitive brain is a bit of a catastrophizer as you might see. Be assured there will be more cookies tomorrow, and if there are not and you really want some you can make them or find someone who will for you. You will not starve tomorrow, and if you were going to face some kind of huge famine in the next 24 hours sugar cookies, bread stuffing or Hershey Kisses are not the foods you want to be gorging yourself with. In the eventuality of this latter scenario every person for themselves; shove aunt Hilda to the ground and snatch up that turkey, the butter and get some fluids in now!

This is all nice and easy when you ready it, but how do you prepare for Thanksgiving potlucks and holiday family meals? Here's your battle plan:

First of all, go back and check your list before you leave the house.

Secondly, tell yourself either out loud or in your head what it is you want to achieve in terms of food goals for the holidays. With a bit of luck you may even have a supportive friend or family member to share your goals with, someone who is not going to mock you, enable the catastrophizing brain or nag you should you slip; but rather a person who can help keep you accountable or at the very least provide one reminder should the situation start to get a bit hairy.

Walk away from the food! Don't hover near tables of food, that is like putting an alcoholic in front of a fully stocked bar with only high end spirits. Grab what you want and walk away.

Use a smaller plate; research has shown that we fill our plates, regardless of their sizes, so smaller plates will end up having more reasonable quantities of food. Did you know that the plates we use now used to be the sizes used for serving plates 100 years ago? Yes ladies and gentlemen we are effectively eating out of the serving platters.

Check in with yourself, ask yourself what your hunger is about. Are you physically in need of food? Does your body require some specific nutrient? Does that bowl of mashed potatoes just look like a delightful cloud of bliss that you want to shove your face in? After reasonably satisfying hungers which are born of emotional needs (home made fudge was a big part of our holiday cheer and it just brings the warm and fuzzies right back when you bite into a piece and let it melt on your tongue), try to stop yourself, this food is not meant to provide sustenance, just dopamine, and some fleeting sense of happiness.

Good luck to all, remember to enjoy your food this holiday, the healthy and the less healthy ones. Try not to allow guilt to creep in should you make less than ideal choices, it defeats the purpose of indulgence.